The Plumbline

Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! (I Corinthians 9:19-23 MSG) Some think we need to have experienced every element of a person's life in order to bring hope or grace into their lives. I don't need to experience homelessness to understand the homeless need a solid meal every day, a shower a few times a week, and fresh clothing when they shower. I understand they have to find places where t...

Some people say, quite rightly, that idols have no actual existence, that there’s nothing to them, that there is no God other than our one God, that no matter how many of these so-called gods are named and worshiped they still don’t add up to anything but a tall story. They say—again, quite rightly—that there is only one God the Father, that everything comes from him, and that he wants us to live for him. Also, they say that there is only one Master—Jesus the Messiah—and that everything is for his sake, including us. Yes. It’s true. (I Corinthians 8:4-6 MSG) Paul is about to deal with the issue in the Corinthian church related to the 'permissibility' of eating meat when it had been offered at the altar of an idol. While this is not our concern this morning, the preface to his instruction to the church on that subject carries some very important points: 1) God is the one true God; and 2) the other 'gods' that exist in mind or theory all amount to nothing but a big fat z...